19th Amendment

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, I, too, would like to thank the senior Senator from Maine and the senior Senator from California for organizing the colloquy we are having on the floor today in recognition of a very historic moment.

To have Senator Collins be a leader here in the U.S. Senate has been just a wonderful experience for me and to share with her the last 7 years that I have been here. She is truly a leader, and she is a mentor to both men and women here in the Senate. I always tell people, if you want to see a true legislator, you need to watch Susan Collins.

Mr. President, I rise today with great honor and pride to join my colleagues in recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Senate passage of the 19th Amendment, which did pave the way for women's constitutional right to vote in this country. Today we celebrate this historic milestone, and we honor the suffragists, women of courage who were pioneers and leaders.

These women who fought for their God-given right to vote in the greatest democracy the world has ever seen must be remembered. Nearly 100 years ago, with picket signs in hand, Alice Paul led hundreds of brave suffragists to the White House to advocate for the essential role of women's right to vote in this Republic.

Today, almost a century later, women make up half of the electorate. According to the Pew Research Center, more women voted than men in the 2018 elections.

As I stand today in this Chamber alongside the women of the Senate, I am so grateful for the strength of the women who came before us. On this historic day, I would like to reflect on some of Nebraska's strong and very influential women who have made a difference. Susette LaFlesche Tibbles served as a translator for Chief Standing Bear during his famous speech when he fought for Native Americans to keep their land. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather is renowned for her work chronicling life on the Great Plains. And biographer, historian, and teacher Mari Sandoz invested in the next generation of creative writers.

I also think of women in politics from my home State of Nebraska who inspired me to serve my community, my State, and my country. I think of Kay Orr, Nebraska's first female Governor and the first female Republican Governor in the United States. I think of Virginia Smith, my congressional Representative and the first woman from Nebraska to hold a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Let's not forget the stories of the suffragists and all of the women throughout our Nation's history whose courage and brilliance changed the world. It is because of them that we stand today in the hallowed Chamber of the U.S. Senate, with a record number of women serving in Congress and record numbers of women exercising their constitutional right to vote. We will never forget the path that brought us here today and the pioneers who fought for the rights of millions of women to participate in the core function of our Republic.

I encourage my Senate colleagues to swiftly pass the resolution before us today, and I hope in doing so that it serves as encouragement and inspiration for future generations of women who will continue to write America's story.

Thank you again to Senators Collins and Feinstein and to all of my colleagues for sharing their stories, their past, and their future vision for this country.

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